Monsanto List Targeted 600 in Germany and France

As it continues to deal with the fallout from its takeover of Monsanto, Bayer is working through the former US agribusiness giant’s list of “enemies,” and said it is notifying those that are on it.

At the same time, the German group said it has severed ties with PR agency FleishmanHillard, which gathered the names for Monsanto, noting that all of the moves are part of its campaign to improve transparency.

In Europe, the names of people ranging from politicians to journalists in seven countries and the EU capital of Brussels, Belgium, supposedly were categorized as either favorable to or opposed to glyphosate.

Names from the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom, as well as “stakeholders related to EU institutions,” are said to be on the list that dates back to 2016. Bayer has hired a law firm to investigate and determine whether the lists extended to other countries.

In Germany and France alone, Monsanto collected 600 names, Bayer reported via Twitter. The German group, which now leads the global agrochemical market, said the report was part of its campaign to improve transparency.

The existence of the list was revealed by a French television channel, which said Monsanto had kept files on prominent backers and opponents of pesticides and genetically modified crops.